The five of them initially felt happy and excited because their power of system would return. However, Clyde and Maethion looked at the five of them with straight faces, the five of them were probably too happy that they forgot about the consequences of the power of system. After all, Maethion only explained that there are consequences when they use the power of system but he hasn't explained everything.
Samuel was the first to notice it. His face immediately became more tense and reserved after he came to his senses.
"You said there would be consequences for using the power of system," Samuel said, his voice stopping his friends who were still in the celebratory stage.
"You will be bounded by a limit. You all will not be able to fight the Celestials," Maethion said.
"What?" Samuel asked with a tone of shock and disbelief. "You've got to be kidding. What's the use of us having that if we can't use it against Celestials?!"
"That's the reason we chose to remove the power from your body," Maethion said.
"But... we'll only be using it to go to the Celestials' domain for now, right?" Kiara asked.
"Unless Celestials know of your presence and fought you head-on, you're safe," Maethion replied. "Only the Celestials you have to worry about. If it's just their followers, the bounds and limits won't work."
"So, as long as we don't meet Celestial face to face, are we safe?" Samuel asked.
Maethion nodded firmly. "Yes."
"Are you sure? Are you sure that none of their followers use that bound?"
Maethion paused for a moment. But he immediately answered before any more doubts were created in their minds.
"Yes."
After hearing Maethion's answer, Samuel sighed. His face, which used to be tense, was now relaxed to a great extent, as were Leyan, Kei, Haru, and Kiara.
"When can we get back the power of system?" Leyan asked, there was a note of impatience in his voice.
Maethion smiled. "Then, come."
The Elf stood up and waved her hand at the five of them, asking them to follow him.
The five people immediately stood up and followed Maethion to the back of his house. Clyde also immediately followed them because he too was curious about how Maethion was able to restore the power of system that they had lost.
They entered a large room that was directly behind Maethion's living room. The bespectacled Elf asked Samuel, Leyan, Kei, Haru, and Kiara to sit in the five seats available there.
Meanwhile, Clyde stood behind them with his arms folded in front of his chest, observing every process that was happening before his eyes.
Maethion pushed a table towards them.
On the table were five hexagonal crystals that had been arranged in the order they were seated. Within the crystals was something like a colorful mist that was constantly moving.
"This is quite simple actually," Maethion said. "Those crystals contain Aetheric Records - your sealed power of system. We can't destroy it and can only seal the power. Take it."
The five of them took the crystals that were in front of them respectively. When their hands touched the hexagonal crystals they could feel a kind of strange familiarity. It was as if they were holding onto an old memory they had forgotten.
It was only natural since the power of system was something that had appeared in their souls from the very beginning of the Selection Stage. And now they are reunited with it after a long time apart. Even though it was something that would limit them, still, it was the power of system that had made them survive in the Selection Stage.
When he realized that the five of them were already holding the crystals and saw their expressions, Maethion asked them to proceed to the next process.
"Crush it," the Elf said.
The five of them looked at him questioningly.
"Just crush it. The crystals may look hard but are actually very fragile. Give it a little force and the crystals will be crushed therefore the power of system sealed inside will return to your bodies."
Samuel was the first to act. He pressed the surface of the crystals with his fingers.
*CRACK!*
A moment later a crack is created. Samuel pressed the crystal in his hand harder until finally the crystal shattered into small pieces.
Multicolored light came out and squirmed in front of Samuel, before finally entering his body. Samuel felt the surge of powerful yet familiar power within his body.
The colorful light covered Samuel's body for a few moments before finally disappearing completely.
Leyan, Kei, Haru, and Kiara were still looking at him, waiting to see what was going on. But what they saw wasn't as bad as they thought. Instead, Samuel smiled broadly with a bright face; indicating that he feels good things inside of his body.
"Crush it!" said Samuel to his friends.
Hearing his urge, the four of them immediately crushed their crystals. The same thing happened. That surge of power entered their bodies.
Clyde, who had been watching from behind, could feel the presence of new power from the five of them. The five of them were even strong enough to go on an expedition to The All Territory even without their power of system. Now that the power had returned, would it match their current strength or reset their body to the moment it was before it was taken away?
Clyde hopes that the latter doesn't happen. It would be really troublesome if that happened.
"How are you feeling?" Maethion asked with a smile after seeing their satisfied faces.
"I feel amazing," Leyan replied in a dreamy voice because he was still trying to wrap his mind around the power that was returning to his body.
The other four also showed the same expression until they were speechless. However, Samuel was the first to come to his senses.
"Now all we have to do is raise our levels, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. I guess my job here is done now," Mathion replied. "You guys can go and prepare for the expedition.
"And one more thing, you won't be able to see your Character Information in this Fortress. Even though your power of system has returned, something in this Fortress is blocking it."
They came out of Maethion's house in a much better mood than when they entered.
Clyde was still walking behind them when they came out of the house. Unfortunately, he can't use his [Skill:Inspection] now or he will only see blurry text. But it's alright because he can still see it later.
"Let's just go to a Ruin and gain some levels. Just like the old days," Samuel said with a big smile. His mood did seem much better than before and Clyde could feel it.
'Did he perhaps forget about that consequence? Well, I guess it's better to let them enjoy it for now.'
Clyde nodded briefly at Samuel. "I'll call the others first. Wait for me at the portal."
After that, he left them to gather Leon's party. A few minutes later Clyde came with Leon and his party to the portal. The ten people from the two different parties started to introduce themselves to one another. Of course, they couldn't get along right away but Clyde saw that there wouldn't be too many problems as long as they had the same goals.
"You choose the Ruin," Clyde said to Samuel.
Samuel nodded and stuck his amulet into the portal. A moment later the portal's scenery changed to reveal a Ruin that looked like a wilderness.
"Where's that?" Clyde frowned because he thought the Ruin would be quite difficult. The forest was extremely thick and dense, such terrain would definitely restrict their movements.
"This used to be Leyan's world. In this place, there are many monsters that haven't been killed yet." Samuel replied. "Don't worry. Leyan knows this place well."
Hearing that, Clyde nodded. At least they had someone familiar with the Ruin so the risk of getting lost or getting in trouble was significantly reduced.
And so, they entered the portal with excited faces, especially Samuel and his party members.
~~~
It was almost noon when their joint practice finally stopped. Joshua said that they could rest now for a few minutes to recover their mana.
Asqa is one of the most grateful because of that. She had run out of Mana even though her Mana count had increased a lot from the Selection Stage.
A moment later she noticed a figure flying towards them. Brilliant white wings stretched and moved behind his back.
When he landed, it was a man who was one of the troop leaders. He immediately walked towards Joshua with quick steps.
He leaned and whispered into Joshua's ear. "We must go now. Her Majesty has asked us to assemble."
"Do you know what happened, Matt?" Joshua asked with an uneasy face. This can't be something good if the Archangel requests their presence in a hurry like this.
Matt looked at Joshua. "Maybe... we should leave sooner than we think."
~~~
